How to Be a LinkedIn Thought Leader When You Have a Day Job
Do you want to be viewed as a leading authority in your industry or space? Do you want your target audience to see you as a go-to source of expert insights into big-picture developments in your field? Do you want your brand to stand out and get attention, consideration, and loyalty in the crowded information landscape?
We all see those prominent business authors and experts who promote their work through podcasts, writing, speaking, and social, including LinkedIn. I’m thinking of people like Dorie Clark, Guy Kawasaki, and Seth Godin.
I learn a lot from these thought leaders and appreciate their posts. Their level of content posting is just not realistic for most of our clients. We work with people leading teams and running functions or units at companies or non-profits. Their days are fully booked, if not overloaded. Thought leadership is typically not in their job description, so it gets squeezed out.
Still, for many reasons, these experts benefit from being active and growing their following on LinkedIn. Being consistently on LinkedIn offers an easy way to stay connected with their networks, gain more exposure for their work, attract in-demand talent to their teams, and build the brands of their organizations.
Your Thought Leadership Builds Your Organization’s Brand
When the work you and your organization are doing is more visible to your network, it builds your overall credibility and keeps you top of mind. It can lead to referrals of customers and job candidates, and is one of the proof points media editors and conference organizations will consider when deciding who to feature. If you are a B2B company or a non-profit trying to attract a corporate audience, LinkedIn should be a priority.
How Much Time Should Business Leaders Spend on LinkedIn?
To become a thought leader on LinkedIn, we advise our clients to start with just 30 minutes/week, split into two 15 minutes blocks on their calendar. You can also jump into LinkedIn for a quick scan when you join a virtual call a few minutes ahead of others or when take a quick coffee or tea break. Once you spend time more consistently and begin to see the benefits, you may decide to extend this time, depending on your goals.
Five Steps for Thought Leadership on LinkedIn
How can you promote your point of view and your work on LinkedIn when you have a day job? Here are five steps even busy professionals should be able to do. The goal with these steps is to make LinkedIn a habit and to make it more valuable and effective for you.
#1 Fix five easy things on your LinkedIn profile. Take a hard look at your profile. Many people last updated their LinkedIn profile when they searched for their latest job. Spend your next few visits to LinkedIn addressing these questions so your profile shows people the expert thought leader you want to be.
Does your About section say who you are today and where you want to go?
Have you pinned items you are proud of in your Featured section?
Would someone get a good sense of you from looking at your Interests section?
Does your photo look like you?
Have you created a custom (short) url?
#2 Think About Your Mix. What should you do when you visit LinkedIn? We encourage our clients to try for a balanced of different types or posts and actions. The key to being effective, and frankly, reducing the “ick” factor, is to spend a higher percentage of time offering value vs. pure self-promotion.
Source: Quickstep LinkedIn Level-Up Workshop 2023
Thought leadership can be sharing an article with your comments, adding your own context and point of view around a post from your company or a team member, or commenting on other posts from your network. While liking posts is nice, it is much more valuable to add a thoughtful comment — try not to just say, “Congrats!” It will take more time, but offering some real insight keeps your comment from being a throwaway. Work to open up conversations with your network, not just promote your agenda.
#3 Follow 20 new people on LinkedIn, and include at least 5 from outside your industry. When you log into LinkedIn, what you see directly correlates with who you follow. Consider the books you’ve read, the conferences you’ve attended, the podcasts you’ve heard. Who impressed you? Ask your colleagues for recommendations. Look up executives at companies you admire. Consider also a few people in creative or spiritual fields that will offer inspiration. Also follow this tip from Natalie Eckdahl of Biz Chix. Clean house and stop following/disconnect from anyone in your LinkedIn network who isn’t serving you.
#4 Share your point of view and develop your voice. This is the hardest for many people. Some believe they have nothing original to say. Others have a clear point of view and issues they want to talk about, but can’t carve out the time. It’ best to just start. Add some context around your post of an article – what you agreed with, what you didn’t. Create a simple text post of something that’s been on your mind. Pose a question to your network. You will start to get feedback and see what resonates, then you can build from there. Just be sure you’re not only broadcasting your own content. Take time to listen and raise other voices.
#5 Use LinkedIn Analytics to track progress. In just five minutes you can click on “Analytics” to see which of your posts have had the most engagement and impressions this week/month/year. Clicking on the number of followers at the top of your profile will show you who has followed you recently. Finally, click on “Show all activity,” then “Posts” to see and respond to comments on your posts. Use this feedback to determine which posts work best and monitor how your efforts are growing your following.
Although LinkedIn has the potential to generate impressions and traffic, the social network's value extends far beyond your number of followers and likes. LinkedIn can build synergy and connections that lead to co-marketing opportunities and drive new client relationships and partnerships. Perhaps most importantly, it's a place where you can share your ideas and show how and what you think. Even business decision makers want to make a personal connection before they buy or invest. LinkedIn is a great place to show who you are and foster those relationships.
Gwen Gulick is founder and principal of Quickstep, a strategic communications consulting firm that specializes in helping organizations be thought leaders.